Tom Stechschulte

Texas lawyer Billy Bob Holland is in Montana visiting an old friend when he is pulled into an investigation of a string of murders. At first, he seeks to protect his friend. But as the body count rises, Billy Bob begins to see evidence of a grisly vendetta..

Both a fast-paced story of social unrest and strike, and the tale of one young man's struggle for identity, In Dubious Battle is a novel about the apocalyptic violence that breaks out when the masses become the mob. Set in California apple country, a strike by migrant workers spirals out of control, as principled defiance turns into blind fanaticism. Caught in this upheaval is Jim Nolan, a once aimless man who finds himself briefly becoming the leader of the strike before being crushed in its service. In Dubious Battleexplores and dramatises many of the ideas and themes key to Steinbeck's writing.

Wyatt Dixon, rodeo cowboy, is certainly not one of Billy Bob Holland's favourite people. Sentenced to sixty years in jail for murder, Dixon is out after only a year, due to the DA's failure to disclose a piece of information. He swears he's a changed man and needs Billy Bob's help, but how can Billy Bob believe the man who tortured his wife? And then there's Johnny American Horse, who has been caught carrying a gun. He says he needs it for protection; in a dream he saw two men coming for him and it isn't long before his prediction proves him right . . .

Llewelyn Moss is hunting antelope near the Texas-Mexico border when he stumbles upon several dead men, a stash of heroin, and two million dollars in cash. He takes off with the money, but when a drug cartel hires a former Special Forces agent to track down the loot, the hunter becomes the hunted. Also looking for Moss is the aging Sheriff Bell, a World War II veteran who may be Moss' only hope for survival.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol for defence against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing - and each other.

For generations, Perry James' family, staunch unionists, has lived under the shadow of the Cumberland range and worked in the coal mines. To escape from the cycle of poverty, Perry signs up with the Jobs Corps, where they begin to teach him a skilled trade and how to read and write. But Perry is torn between family honour and the lure of seedy beer joints where he can drink and escape…